1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to apparatus for harvesting above-ground food plants, such as fruit or vegetable plants. More particularly, this invention relates to a tailing, or cull recovery system which allows for further recovery of food losses from apparatus for harvesting above-ground food plants.
2. Description of Prior Art
Direct-loading harvesters have been known in the art for many years and have enjoyed wide-spread use in the harvesting of above-ground food plants containing food. The above-ground food plants harvested from these direct-loading harvester varies, and may include a variety of above-ground food plants ranging from tomato plants and other fruit plants to cucumber plants and other vegetable plants. Typically, such harvesters are arranged to harvest above-ground food plants grown in rows, to elevate the harvested above-ground food plants to a shaker brush for separating the food on the above-ground foods plants from their vines, to carry the food from the shaker brush to sorter conveyors where unsuitable food and trash are removed, and finally to elevate the remaining food from the harvester to an attendant truck or trailer for delivery to processing plants.
Often times, the unsuitable food and trash contain suitable food which is mixed in with the trash for a number of reasons. First, many of the suitable food remains entangled in the vine mass. If suitable food remains entangled in the vine mass the suitable food will fall off the end of the shaker conveyor and onto the ground where the suitable food is regarded as trash. Additionally, some suitable food is lost on the sorter conveyor during the hand sorting process, due to the fact that human hand sorters make mistakes and throw suitable food away. Finally, the color sorters which automatically sort out unsuitable food make mistakes and reject suitable food.
This invention provides an improved method and apparatus for recovering food losses from the main recovery system, the handsorters, and the color sorters. This invention provides a recovery shaker conveyor located beneath the main recovery system to catch food and vines which are tossed off the end of the main recovery system. The food and vines are turned over during the fall, thus loosening some food from the vine. The loosened food falls through the openings in the recovery shaker conveyor onto a recovery cross conveyor which is situated in between the chains of the recovery shaker conveyor and under the color sorters. Food which is rejected by the color sorters also falls onto the recovery cross conveyor and is directed toward a dirt sorter electronic system.
In another embodiment of this invention, unsuitable food which is pulled as culls by the handsorters, is placed on a recovery sorter conveyor which is fed into the recovery cross conveyor for re-examination. The dirt, debris, and unsuitable food fall off the recovery cross conveyor through the dirt sorter electronic system to the ground. The remaining food is retrieved by the dirt sorter electronic system onto a recovery feed conveyor which drops the remaining food onto the discharge conveyor, where the food is elevated and discharged into a receiving truck.